This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola’s Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
A handful of Marlins received down-ballot votes last week when the Baseball Writers’ Association of America handed out its annual awards.
With an eye on 2026, let’s take a look at Marlins that might make a case for some hardware next season.
Rookie of the Year
On a rookie-laden 2025 club, Agustín Ramírez, Jakob Marsee and Heriberto Hernández all received recognition. The 2026 Marlins aren’t expected to be this inexperienced, but there will be one major candidate for this award: catcher Joe Mack.
Mack, who will be protected from the Rule 5 Draft on Tuesday, will enter his second big league camp this spring – this time as a member of the 40-man roster. How he performs could force the organization to seriously consider making him the Opening Day catcher over second-year players Ramírez and Liam Hicks.
Ranked as the Marlins’ No. 4 prospect (MLB Pipeline’s No. 70 overall), Mack has moved up the prospect rankings – and deservedly so – following a pair of injury-riddled campaigns from 2022-23 toward the beginning of his professional career.
In 2024, Mack won the Gold Glove Award for Minor League catchers and Double-A Pensacola MVP. In 2025, he put together a .779 OPS in 99 games for a Jacksonville club that captured the Triple-A national championship.
Regardless of when Mack receives his Major League callup, he could make a strong push to become the fifth ROY in franchise history, joining Dontrelle Willis (2003), Hanley Ramirez (’06), Chris Coghlan (’09) and José Fernández (’13).
Cy Young
While there are several worthy candidates in the Marlins’ projected rotation, including flamethrowers Eury Pérez and Edward Cabrera, it’s hard not to go with ace Sandy Alcantara.
The NL’s unanimous winner in 2022 didn’t look like himself for much of the 2025 season in his return from Tommy John surgery, but Alcantara finished strong. Over his final eight starts, seven of which qualified as a quality start, he compiled a 2.68 ERA. He pitched into the seventh in all but two of them, in vintage Alcantara form.
Despite Alcantara’s overall struggles (5.36 ERA, third highest among qualifying NL pitchers) he still managed 1.7 fWAR (tied for 19th highest) and 174 2/3 innings (14th most). Alcantara is poised to be a workhorse again with 2025 behind him.
Manager of the Year
In his first year at the helm, Clayton McCullough guided the young Marlins to a 17-win improvement and kept them in the postseason picture until the final few days of the season. The BBWAA acknowledged the overachieving Marlins, as McCullough finished fifth for Manager of the Year, with five second-place and seven third-place votes for 22 points.
If the Marlins continue to trend upwards and defy expectations, McCullough could become the fifth MOY winner in franchise history, joining Jack McKeon (2003), Joe Girardi (’06), Don Mattingly (’20) and Skip Schumaker (’23).
Most Valuable Player
One of the disappointing aspects of an otherwise encouraging 2025 was being robbed of full-season numbers from breakout star Kyle Stowers, whose campaign ended on Aug. 15 due to a left oblique injury.
At the time, Stowers was slashing .288/.368/.544 with a 149 OPS+, 21 doubles, three triples, 25 homers and 73 RBIs in 117 games. The National League’s Player of the Month for July was among the NL’s leaders in OPS (.912, fifth), slugging (sixth), homers (tied for ninth), average (10th), RBIs (11th) and on-base percentage (12th).
Stowers, who made his first All-Star team and was named a Gold Glove finalist in left field, wound up not receiving any votes on the MVP ballot.
It’s a shame considering the standout moments that can bolster a candidacy – from Stowers’ Opening Day walk-off single to his three-homer performance against his former club to his walk-off grand slam off a 101.7 mph fastball.
There’s no guarantee that Stowers will put up monster numbers again in 2026, but his performance showed that he was capable of single-handedly leading the team to victory.